Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears made their first Australian appearance at Splendour In The Grass earlier this year. Now they are returning for meredith and a couple of sideshows of their own. This is one band that you want to see. They are a truly exciting outfit, blending soul, blues and funk, with a punk rock sensibility. Dont miss these shows and get a listen to their new album

HHMM: Listening to your band, it’s cool that you come from Texas, but you cant help but hear the roots in Chicago music, the side order of Memphis soul and a dressing of Muscle Shoals. Does that sound about right?

BJL: Oh yeah, I’m big on all that stuff.

HHMM: Was that what you set out to do? To blend all that music?

BJL: I guess inadvertently, yes. I’ve always thought of myself – like most musicians do – you tend to play the type of music that you like to listen to. ‘Naturally’, you know what I mean? So I guess me being a fan of all that it just naturally creeps in there. Then you try to make your own sound out of it.

HHMM: Was it an organic thing, to educate yourself in all those sounds or was it just a case of you being a fan and then one thing leading to another?

BJL: It’s pretty simple. I started playing guitar and then I got into playing roots music and stuff like that. I guess it just kind of evolved and I got into soul music. I’d always been into punk rock and stuff. You just play the type of music you like listening to, man.

HHMM: The spirit of your band kind of reminds me of the early days of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. It’s that combination of black guys and white guys, big on soul and funk but with a very passionate rock n’ roll heart. Is that a band you kind of look at and see yourself in?

BJL: I don’t think I’ve really listened to them. I’ll have to check them out.

HHMM: Your band goes to show that white guys can get funky if that are given the right leadership!

BJL: Ha ha, nice, nice.

HHMM: You talked about having respect for the music that has gone before you, whether it’s the old blues guys or rock guys like the Stooges and the New York Dolls. Do you think it’s that unusual that you can blend blues and soul with punk rock?

BJL: Rock n’ roll came from blues and a lot of punk rock uses a lot of blues chords and then they add power chords in there too, but they are actually pretty similar. We toured with the New York Dolls and they were all fans of blues musicians too. A lot of people think that its awkward but it isn’t because they all come from the same place.

HHMM: I can almost hear David Johansen singing “When I Met You Baby” from your new album.

BJL: He’s bad ass. He’s a soul singer, he can sing jazz too, you know? He’s just pretty bad-ass. He can sing whatever. I never sand with him, I just watched, admired.

HHMM: Your songs tell some really cool stories. Is that how you see yourself, in that storyteller vein, having that desire to tell some stories?

BJL: Yeah, that’s where I get a lot of my inspiration from. I see stories on the news or in the newspaper. I see something cool or something that happened and a song will come out of it.  It’s where I got a lot of my ideas from. Every now and then I’ll see something that catches my eye. Jimmy Tanks from Scandalous is from a story I saw in a newspaper in Alabama, about this 67 year old man who killed a repo man who was trying to take his truck back. Then they killed him, it was a kinda gunfight.  I read that and I thought it would make a good song.  Most of the songs on Scandalous came out of stuff like that.

HHMM: Mustang Ranch, from Scandalous is another really funny story song. It actually reminds me of George Thorogood’s One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer.

BJL: (laughs) I never thought about that but I guess so.

HHMM: The band feels like a real ‘road’ band. Is that where you feel happiest, when you’ve got a string of shows lined up ahead of you?

BJL: Yeah, I guess so. I don’t know if I would say happiest, but we thrive at it. It’s what we do the best at. We are at our best live, its how we make our money, its what we do. This will be a second time this year in Australia, so we are year round.

HHMM: You obviously had a great time last time.

BJL: I did the show Rockwiz, that was cool. We did Brisbane for Splendour on The Grass or whatever that is called. Then the rest of the band went home and I stayed in Melbourne for about a week. I was trying to entertain myself, walking around trying to get into bars and stuff. It was cool.

HHMM: I’m sure you’ll have a great time this time you are playing some cool venues.

BJL: Thanks for pushing my shit dude. Write something nice about me.

• Sydney

The Factory
Friday 9 December 2011
Supported by Smitty & B Goode

• Meredith

Meredith Music Festival
Saturday 10 December 2011
SOLD OUT

• Oakleigh

Caravan Music Club
Sunday 11 December 2011
Supported by The Frowning Clouds

• Melbourne

The Prince Bandroom
Tuesday 13 December 2011
Supported by Cash Savage & The Last Drinks